University of Pittsburgh- Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education

The Differentiation of Navajo Culture, Behavior, and Material Culture: A Comparative Study
in Culture Change
Author(s): Susan Kent
Source: Ethnology, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Jan., 1983), pp. 81-91
Published by: University of Pittsburgh- Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education
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 THE DIFFERENTIATION OF NAVAJO

CULTURE, BEHAVIOR, AND

MATERIAL CULTURE: A

COMPARATIVE STUDY IN CULTURE

CHANGE1

Susan Kent
Iowa State University

Navajos do not emphasize sexual differences in organizing their use of space,

objects, or division of labor to the same extent as do other groups. That they do
not differentiate or divide their universe as other groups do is reflected in their
culture, behavior, and material culture. This contrasts with, for example, their
neighboring Anglo-Americans and Spanish-Americans, who emphasize the basic
biological differences between males and females as one organizing principle in
which they divide their world. The lack of Navajo differentiation can be seen in
traditional Navajo culture as a relatively weak division of labor and a general lack
of emphasis placed on the differences between the sexes (Kent 1980). The
opposite?the use of sex-specific and monofunctional objects and activity areas?
is characteristic of groups which tend to divide or differentiate their world.
No group is completely undifferentiated as such, but is so only in relation to
other groups. The amount of differentiation among various groups must be
compared against each other to establish relative measures. Navajos were
contrasted with Anglo-Americans and Spanish-Americans in order to have a
baseline from which the Navajos could be compared. Navajos, relative to these
groups are undifferentiated; but are actually more differentiated than other
groups such as the Bushmen.
Today, Navajo culture, if viewed as a continuum, ranges from traditional to
nontraditional.2 In 1978, nine Navajo families were studied in order to observe
their activities at various times and places. Their lifeways varied from traditional
to semi-nontraditional. No nontraditional families were observed since most live
in off-reservation cities beyond my study area.

Navajos: Past and Present

The lack of differentiation or segmentation in Navajo culture can be seen in
Navajos' conception ofthe differences between the sexes. Biology constrains, but
it does not determine the behavior of the sexes, and the differences which groups
place on the interpretation of biology are the result of a group's culture (Rosaldo
and Lamphere 1974:5). Beyond basic biological differences between the sexes,
which are perceived by every group, Navajos do not think of males and females as

81
 82 Ethnology

being as different as they are thought to be by some other groups (Kent 1980).
For example, Shepardson and Hammond (1970:66-67) noted that:

Because of the simplicity and homogeneity of traditional Navajo society, one can safely say that
there is a consensus on the definition of roles, that expectations for proper role behavior are shared
by the society as a whole. No roles except the strictly biological male role is closed to women.

This is in marked contrast to such groups as traditional Anglo-Americans who

believe that the difference between the sexes is substantial (Graebner 1975;
Mead 1967). The result of this belief is that special deodorants, vitamins, and cold
cereals are advertised as being specifically for use by one sex or the other because
of their different needs.
The less segmented view of the sexes can also be seen in the Navajos' weakly
differentiated division of labor (Downs 1972; Kluckhohn and Leighton 1962;
Kluckhohn, Hill, and Kluckhohn 1971; Lamphere 1977). For instance, both
males and females of all ages were consistently observed herding sheep. Either
men or women would purchase groceries and other items at the local trading post.
One sex did not dominate the performance of various chores like wood chopping,
butchering, planting crops, and so on. This does not mean, however, that there is
neither a division of labor nor a perceived difference between the sexes among
the Navajos. One example is that food preparation and child care were most
frequently, although by no means exclusively, conducted by women. In general,
Navajos emphasize the differences between the sexes substantially less than
Anglo-Americans or Spanish-Americans and have a much less rigid division of
labor (see Table 1).
Furthermore, Navajos are less differentiated than Anglo-Americans or Span?
ish-Americans in other aspects of culture. Unlike those groups, Navajos do not
have individual function-specific or sex-specific occupations, nor do they have
hierarchies like socioeconomic classes or political stratification. Examples of the
former in traditional Anglo-American society are male lumberjacks and ship
captains and female housewives and secretaries. Even traditional Navajo religion
is not markedly differentiated compared to Anglo-American religions?the
number of separate religions, like Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Mormon,
in itself is an indication of differentiation. In addition, many Anglo-American
religions have hierarchies, another indication of differentiation. These hierarchi?
cal levels range from good to evil where Jesus and/or God are above angels, who
are above ministers/priets, who are above laymen, who are above those who do
not believe, who are above the devil.
There are other indicators of the amount of differentiation present in Navajo
culture vis-a-vis different groups like Anglo-Americans or Spanish-Americans,
one of which is their view ofthe natural world (Kent 1980:266). Although Anglo-
Americans view the material world as a sphere of conquest while Spanish-
Americans see humans as subjugated by nature, both groups view man and
nature as a distinct dichotomy (Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck 1961:13). This
distinction is not made by Navajos, "If the conceptualization of the man-nature
relationship is that of Harmony, there is no real separation of man, nature, and
supernature. One is simply an extension of the other, and a conception of
wholeness derives from their unity" (Kluchhohn and Strodtbeck 1961:13).
Relative to other groups, Navajo views of good and evil are additionally not
very differentiated. Anglo-Americans, for example, often consider people and
things as either good or bad?the two tend to be mutually exclusive categories
(Kent 1980:266). In comparision:

"Not definitely bad although not entirely good either" is a view reiterated time and again in the
whole corpus of Navaho texts. . . . The Navaho conception is not Neutral towards human nature. It
is definitely a mixture of Good and Evil, and this mixture is immutable (Romney and Cluckhohn
1961:335).
 Differentiation of Navajo Culture 83

The absence of sex-specific areas of use in Navajo households (except for

traditional Navajos' use of hogans discussed below) reflects the lack of emphasis
placed on the differences between males and females and their relatively flexible
division of labor. The Navajos observed do not use separate sex-specific areas,
other than those inside the hogans of traditional households. Even then, the use
of sex-specific space is adhered to only by traditional Navajos and only when
inside the hogan. For example, the male head of one traditional family almost
never ventured beyond the southeastern quadrant of the hogan (Figure 1). He
ate, repaired objects, made tools like leather quirts, and slept on his sheepskin
bed there. During the entire month I lived with this family, he was observed in
the northern part of the hogan on only four rather unusual occasions. In every
case, his stay in the northern part of the hogan was very brief, lasting no more
than a few minutes each time.
The women used the northern half of the hogan the most. They wove baskets,
slept, cooked, and performed a variety of activities there. Despite the fact that
similar activities as those conducted inside the hogan were performed inside the
ramada (e.g., sleeping, eating, cooking, talking, repairing objects, and so on), the
same family did not divide the ramada, or the out-of-doors into sex-specific areas
of use.
The reason that traditional Navajos separate the hogan into male and female
use areas is because the circular hogan symbolizes the circular cosmos which is

FIGURE 1: Traditional Navajo Hogan

BOXESAND

XES OF CLOTHES
/Xflour in metal qarbage can

ox of dishes
SMALLTABLE
WITHBABYTHING
FOOD STORAGECABINET

y, CANTABLE COFFEEAND
\\ ARGE^OIL
TEA POTS
/ ( WATERSTORAGE
FEMALE USE AREA_*>< (
_

5 METER8
 84 Ethnology

also divided into male and female areas (Kent 1982). This can be seen in the
sacred status traditional Navajos ascribe to the hogan, even when it is used for
nonsacred activities (see, for example, Louis 1975:3; Kluckhohn and Leighton
1962:89). In addition, parts of many ceremonies can only be conducted inside a
round structure or hogan. The rectangular ramada, where similar activities as
those conducted inside the hogan are performed, and the out-of-doors are not
divided into sex-specific space because they are not round, or sacred (Kent 1982).
The use of sex-specific space inside the hogan, which is the opposite of the use of
space elsewhere, also aids in maintaining the boundary between sacred hogan
space and nonsacred space everywhere else (Kent 1982). In other words, the use
of space in the hogan is anomolous compared to the use of space elsewhere and
can be explained by the circular shape of the hogan and its representation of the
circular cosmos, both of which are divided into the same sexual division of space.
Unlike other groups, the Navajo use of space in the hogan is not a reflection of
their division of labor, but is, instead, a reflection of the cosmos.
Less traditional Navajos do not divide hogan space or anywhere else into
separate sex-specific areas. Both men and women work, sleep, and eat in the same
part of the hogan. For instance, the women and the male and female children of
one semitraditional family wash dishes in the southeastern quadrant of the hogan,
or in the same area where both men and women prepare meals (Figure 2). Both
the male and female heads of this semitraditional household sleep on a mattress
laid on the southeastern part of their hogan floor, sit on the northern Anglo-

FIGURE 2: Semitraditional Navajo Family!s

Tar?paper and Plaster-board Hogan

ANGLO-AMERICAN
FABRIC AND PILLOWS
DOUBLE BED

BOXES AND TRUNKS CHILD'S CHAIR AND WASHTUB

OOD IN WOODENBOX
\ FIREWt
V<l

WOODBURNING
DRESSER WITH
STOVE
MEDICINESON TOP
WOODENCABINET WITH
I I
t FOOD CONSUMPTIONAREA CLEANINGMATERIALS

KITCHENCABINET/TABLE
BOXES AND TRUNKS

TREADLE
SEWING BOXESOF FOOD AND CLOTHES
MACHINE

5 METERS
 Differentiation of Navajo Culture 85

American manufactured bed to work or talk, and cook meals at the central
woodburning stove (Figure 2). The men and women of this family even sat
together during a small curing ceremony that was held inside their tar-paper and
plaster-board hogan, although both the singer officiating and her patient did sit in
their proper traditional positions in the western part of the structure.
The absence of the use of sex-specific areas everywhere except inside
traditional Navajos' hogans is congruent with the Navajos' relative lack of
emphasis placed on the differences between the sexes and their relatively flexible
division of labor compared to other groups. Thus, traditional and semi-nontradi-
tional Navajos use space in a similar, although not identical, way. Despite the
differences, traditional and semi-nontraditional Navajos use space more similarly
to one another than they do to other groups, such as Anglo-Americans or
Spanish-Americans.
Traditional rural and urban Anglo-Americans, for example, use relatively
numerous sex-specific activity areas. The kitchen is considered women's domain
by the people observed, whereas the den is the men's. Storage areas, such as
various closets and dressers, are used by only one sex. One Anglo-American
household even segregated their bathrooms by the sex of the principal user who
then kept his or her toilet articles stored there.
A characteristic of Navajo behavior for both traditional and semitraditional
households was the use of the same areas for a diverse range of functionally
distinct activities. It was not unusual to observe an area used by either or both
sexes for a variety of different activities. For example, at different times during
the day, a traditional woman was observed weaving a blanket at the same out-of-
doors locus at which her husband had earlier manufactured a leather quirt. In a
semitraditional family, both men and women chopped wood at the wood chip
area which also occasionally doubled as a cooking area. At the same wood chip
area, the male head of the family was observed roasting meat for lunch, and on
different occasions, his wife boiled stew or made ndneeskaadi ("tortilla" bread) at
the hearth. In this same household, both men and women would sit on the Anglo-
American manufactured bed in the northern part of their tar-paper and plaster-
board hogan in order to perform a variety of functionally unrelated activities, such
as eating, repairing objects, talking, and taking short naps (Figure 2). At one semi-
nontraditional family's cinder block house, both males and females ate meals
either on or near the southern couch or at the northern kitchen table, where
different unrelated activities also occurred. Anglo-American and, to a lesser
extent, Spanish-American, households had monofunctional areas of use where
only related activities were performed. These tended to be bathrooms and
bedrooms in the Spanish-American homes and also kitchens, dining rooms, and
dens in the Anglo-American houses.
Other aspects of Navajo behavior also indicate less differentiation relative to
other groups. The Anglo-American breakfast, lunch, and dinner, for instance, are
conceptually different from those ofthe Navajo in that that they require different
foods, such as cereal or eggs for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and meat,
potatoes and/or vegetables or salad for dinner (Kent 1980:268?269). Although
ethnically specific foods like tortillas and posole are eaten, the Spanish-Americans
also use different types of foods for different meals. This distinction, which is not
a reflection of their financial situation, is virtually nonexistant among Navajos,
who eat mutton, fry bread and/or pinto beans or whatever, three times a day. In
other words, Navajos do not consider each meal as a separate, or differentiated
entity requiring different foods (Kent 1980:269). In addition, certain foods are
considered by many Anglo-Americans to be masculine or feminine; for example,
quiche is associated with females in contrast to red meat which is associated with
males (Michael Whiteford, personal communication).
A final example of the lack of differentiation present in Navajo behavior is
based on my sleeping arrangements at various Navajo households, which
 86 Ethnology

remained fairly consistent. I usually slept in a bed with at least several (and
sometimes many) children of both sexes, although empty beds were available
(Kent 1980). However, I always had my own bed at the Anglo-American
households, even if it meant displacing a child so I could have his/her double bed
to myself. Each bed did not have a separate occupant among the Navajos, even if
children were of the opposite sex; again, a less individualistic and differentiated
view than that present among Anglo-Americans.3
The lack of differentiation evident in Navajo culture and behavior is also
present in their material culture. Traditional Navajos did not usually divide
objects into separate categories based on the gender who used them. As a result,
Navajos had fewer sex-specific and monofunctional objects. For example:

Though one sex or the other dominated, use roles tended to be mixed. For example, women made
and used pottery and most baskets, on occasion, however, these were used by male chanters. Men
dressed in buckskin, but women made and used many articles manufactured from it, including
ropes, saddles, moccasins, and skin bags. Men did not grind corn, but used the metate and mano to
grind pigments for a sandpainting or bark for dyeing buckskin. The batten used by a woman in
weaving might be borrowed by a man to smooth a sandpainting. [The latter two examples also
indicate the prevalence of multipurpose tools.] In addition, there was evidence that not only was the
same type of tool used by men and women, but the same tool was transferred from one to another as
needed. (Kluckhohn, Hill, and Kluckhohn 1971:429.)

In contrast, Anglo-Americans use numerous function-specific objects (e.g.,

salad forks, regular forks, and soup spoons, tea spoons, grapefruit spoons, sugar
spoons, serving spoons, and butter knives, steak knives, paring knives, serrated
knives, and water glasses, juice glasses, wine glasses, whisky glasses, milk glasses,
various cocktail glasses, etc). Anglo-American clothes are far more differentiated
than those of the Navajo. Although not as pronounced as among the Anglo-
Americans, the Spanish-Americans also used monofunctional objects like tea-
spoons, soup spoons, etc. and different clothes for different activities. Regardless
of their economic situation, however, Navajos slept in the same clothes that they
had worn that day and plan to wear the next (Kent 1980:27). Navajos did not
have many sex-specific artifacts relative to Anglo-Americans, who consider
kitchen objects and cleaning equipment like washing machines and irons to be in
the females' domain in contrast to power saws, wood working tools, automobile
tools, and lawn equipment, which are in the males' domain.

Navajos: Past, Present, and Future

While Navajos are comparatively isomorphic as a people, there are some
differences present between traditional, semitraditional, and semi-nontraditional
Navajo families. For example, there appears to be a trend towards increased
differentiation or segmentation of the culture, behavior, and material culture by
less traditional families, although such differentiation is definitely and substantial?
ly less than that found in some non-Navajo groups (see Table 1).
Observations of a semi-nontraditional Navajo family who lived in a three
bedroom Anglo-American manufactured house revealed the use of some mono?
functional areas and artifacts. For example, the kitchen, which was used for food
preparation and the cleaning of utensils, and the bathroom, where a specific set of
activities took place, were both monofunctional (Figure 3). It is significant that
the children in the family slept in the living room, despite the fact that two
bedrooms, one of which contained a mattress bed, were vacant. Other areas, like
the dining room, were the locus of various types of activities. The same semi-
nontraditional family also used more monofunctional artifacts, such as kitchen
utensils and plates that were only used in either food preparation or consumption.
This trend away from the use of multipurpose tools and activity areas was also
observed at other semi-nontraditional families (Kent 1980).
 Differentiation of Navajo Culture 87

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 Differentiation of Navajo Culture 89

Another change noted was in the use of the hogan. It had lost its symbolic
sacredness to the semitraditional and semi-nontraditional families and had
become as profane as any Anglo-American-style house (Kent 1982). In fact, as
mentioned above, one semitraditional family used sacrilegious seating arrange?
ment during a sacred curing ceremony held inside their hogan. The ceremony
probably was held in their tar-paper hogan because they had been taught that that
is where ceremonies are held (and the singer would have otherwise objected).
However, the symbolism of the hogan, which was the reason for holding the
ceremony there, had been lost as this family employed both native and western
cures in a vain attempt to straddle two cultures. As a consequence, unlike the
traditional families, there were no sex-specific use areas in either this or other
semitraditional families' hogans or in semi-nontraditional families' Anglo-Ameri?
can-style houses.
A more rigid division of labor is beginning to emerge with the reliance upon
wage work. Wage work was performed only by males in the families observed,
but this was probably more a consequence of the Anglo-American culture of the
people who hired them than ofthe Navajo culture. The men are gone all day and
thus cannot perform many tasks around the house, which are left to the women.
Thus, women alone now perform such tasks as chopping wood, buying groceries,
and other activities that previously had been shared by both sexes. The important
ramification of this is that there is an emerging stricter division of labor wherein
jobs are differentiated by the sex of the performer.
I do not have the necessary data to ascertain to what extent such differentiation
has affected these families' perception of the sexes or the emphasis placed on the
differences between males and females. Nevertheless, I believe that in the future
the trend will be from a less differentiated view of the universe to a more
differentiated one, corresponding to the degree to which a family has departed
from traditional culture. There should be a slow trend towards an increased
emphasis on the differences between males and females, a more rigid division of
labor, an increased use of monofunctional and sex-specific areas and an increase in
the number of sex-specific and monofunctional objects used. Navajos, once
seminomadic pastoralists, are becoming increasingly sedentary. Sedentism per?
mits, among other things, the accumulation of sex-specific and monofunctional
objects, whereas mobility restricts the number of objects one can possess by the
amount one is able to transport and/or cache.
A similar trend of change has been noted with other groups, partly as the result
of the same influences?the introduction of wage work and sedentism. For
example, among the !Kung Bushmen

Features of sedentary life that appear to be related to a decrease in women's autonomy and
influence are: increasing rigidity in sex-typing of adult work; more permanent attachment of the
individual to a particular place and group of people; dissimilar childhood socialization for boys and
girls; decrease in the mobility of women as contrasted with men; changing nature of women's
subsistence contribution; richer material inventory with implications for women's work; tendency
for men to have greater access to and control over important resources such as wage work; male
entrance into extravillage politics; settlement pattern; and increasing household privacy (Draper
1975:78).

It is an exciting prospect for the study of culture change that this trend may be a
cross-cultural one resulting from the impact of certain aspects of highly differenti?
ated Western European (and Anglo-American) culture, such as sedentism and
wage work, on groups which tend not to differentiate their universe. This may
allow for the development of predictive models for situations in which groups
who strongly differentiate their culture, behavior, and material culture affect
those who do not.
 9o Ethnology

Conclusions
The Navajos, as a group, do not differentiate their universe as much as do other
groups. This can be seen in various aspects of their culture, such as the lack of
emphasis placed on the differences between the sexes, the rigidity of their
division of labor, and in their behavior and material culture, as the paucity of sex-
specific and monofunctional areas of use and artifacts utilized, compared to
Anglo- and Spanish-Americans. Since these are not absolute categories, it is
necessary to contrast Navajos to other groups, such as Anglo-Americans, in order
to be able to measure the relative amount of differentiation present in Navajo
culture, behavior, and material culture. This is a procedure that is usually only
implicitly and unsystematically done by ethnographers when they state, for
example, that a group is egalitarian or stratified. The Bushmen, for instance, are
not egalitarian as such, but are so in comparison to many groups like Anglo-
Americans or Navajos. Thus, explicit comparisons are necessary when dealing
with relative concepts such as the amount of differentiation present: rigidity of
the division of labor; emphasis placed on the differences between the sexes; the
use of sex-specific and monofunctional areas and material culture, and so on.
Fieldwork indicated that there is some variation between traditional, semitradi?
tional, and semi-nontraditional Navajos. The fieldwork elucidated an apparent
trend in which the less traditional a Navajo family is, the more rigid their division
of labor, the more sex-specific and monofunctional areas are used, and the more
sex-specific and monofunctional objects are utilized. The trend is the result of
changes in Navajo economies and sedentism and the ramifications of these
changes has been a shift towards a more differentiated or segmented culture,
behavior, and material culture. This trend may be a cross-cultural one which
results from a group's interaction with and influence from those who differentiate
their universe to a comparatively greater extent, such as Anglo-Americans or
Europeans. However, it must be noted that even the semi-nontraditional Navajos
observed were still distinctly Navajo and differed substantially from other groups.
It is true that they were not the Navajos ofthe first part ofthe twentieth century,
but neither were they anything but distinctly Navajo. Only the future and further
research will foretell the exact path of Navajo change, but this paper indicates one
specific area and direction of that change.
NOTES
i. This article is based on fieldwork conducted among Navajos in the Navajo Mountain, Utah,
area. Participant-observation fieldwork was also conducted among rural Spanish-Americans and
rural and urban Anglo-Americans. I thank Joyce Griffen, Patricia Draper, Louise Lamphere,
Michael Whiteford, and Judy Rose for reading and providing helpful comments on an earlier draft
of this paper. I also thank my Navajo, Anglo-American, and Spanish-American friends who so
kindly allowed me to participate in part of their lives. I appreciate the artistic skill of Karen Kramer,
who drafted Figures, 1,2, and 3, which are adapted from Kent (1980).
2. There usually are, within any one group of people, individuals who more readily embrace change
than others. Therefore, within any one group, there are people who can be classified as more
traditional than others and, as a consequence, there is a continuum among contemporaneous
Navajos which ranges from traditional to nontraditional individuals.
As a result ofthe relative paucity of ethnographic information concerning the Navajos of AD 1500
to 1800 (the ethnographic present), another criterion must be used for this discussion. The baseline
for the definition of traditional Navajos in this study is that period of extensive ethnographic
research from around 1900 to 1950 (e.g., Franciscan Fathers 1910; Kluckhohn 1944; Kluckhohn
and Leighton 1962; Reichard 1950; and others). As discussed elsewhere (Kent 1980:31-35),
traditional Navajos are defined as those who only speak Navajo, maintain sheep and goat herds,
hold certain beliefs (such as the fear of the dead), live only in hogans and ramadas, perform specific
ceremonies (such as a baby's first laugh ceremony), observe mother-in-law avoidance, and
manufacture native arts and crafts. In contrast, nontraditional families are those who are fluent in
English, have a full-time wage earner in the family, live in Anglo-American-style houses, and are, in
general, familiar with nontraditional beliefs, including those from neighboring cultures (Kent
1980:34-35). However, the members ofthe nontraditional category are still distinctly Navajo. The
 Differentiation of Navajo Culture 91

families who fall between these polar contrasts are categorized as semitraditional or semi-
nontraditional.
3. It is difficult to assess the significance of sharing a bed with others in the Spanish-American
households. In both Spanish-American households in which I stayed, there were no empty beds
available. Under similar circumstances, Anglo-American families displaced a child in order that I
might have a bed alone. The importance of hierarchical statuses among Spanish-Americans, and my
age (relatively young) and gender, may have influenced the families' decision to have me share a bed
(but always only with another female).
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